The Tokhtamysh Khanate- The Wolves of Europa!Zamokak (IRL Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi), Ukrainistan The grass of the field was a light brown, sandy colour like tufts of dirty blonde hair, and it blew in the wind towards the shores of the Caspian sea that surrounded the area in the North and the East. Tree cover was sparse. but horses and other grazing animals were plentiful in the area.
A man in a rounded tatar cap walked in the direction of the sea, followed by men, women, children and horses. He walked with a long stick in one hand and a rope to lead his horse along in the other. Maybe 200 metres away from him was a great stone fort next to the beach- he sensed this was the destination he and his 700 or so compatriots had been sent to, a fort on the southern edge of the Dniester Estuary called "The White Castle" by former locals. It was referred to as a combination of the words Zamok and Ak (castle and white respectively) by the Ukrainistani settlers who would claim the fort for the Khan.
The gate at the front of the fort was surprisingly intact- perhaps there were already people living here. The leaders of the settler expedition walked not far behind the man in the cap. "I have a strange feeling about this fort", he said to one of them. "Let us tell our men and women to wait here, and we shall observe what is inside." "Why, brother?", the man replied ,"are the inhabitants of this fort not long-dead? Everyone in these forts is always dead, you know it." the expedition leader sighed at his friend's impatience ,"but the gate is well-furbished enough to be perfectly usable. Maybe gypsies have set up camp in this fort, I do not know, but it is always wiser to check." "If you must", he finally replied, getting up on his horse. The men at the front were maybe seven in number, armed with bows and swords. They rode through the open gates of the fort with their horses and into the deserted streets.
The buildings were made of stone, but the roads inside the castle were made of sandy dirt with a thin grass cover. About a street down, they could hear voices.
There were people here, the man in the cap thought. They readied their swords in case the locals were hostile, and traveled over the street corner. They could here voices speaking in Tatar as they got closer- these were not gypsies or natives. They were fellow Tatars, probably from the Ukranian steppes (people in the Khanate called it
Near Ukraine to distinguish it from Ukrainistan, which was
Far Ukraine). One of the men unfurled the flag of the Khanate, shouting "greetings" as they came into the view of the locals. There were a lot of them, all camped up in the street with their horses in a pen munching on tufts of grass and their washing hung up to try in the window stills. A bonfire had been made in the centre of the street.
The locals were very stunned- they did not expect to see anyone else here, let alone Tatars coming in from the South. The man in the cap shouted at the locals. "We come from the citadel of Tana Epak, a most glorious domain of the Tokhtamysh Throne! We have come to settle the city with our families and raise the Khan's flag upon the fort!" There was muffled talking among the locals before a man stepped forward. "We are former peasants, from Zaporozie. But we are free men now! Why should we submit to your Khan? He will make us serfs again, will he not? We need no banner! The blue skies and the green fields are our banner!" "We do not seek to put you in chains", said the capped man ,"We seek to expand the Khan's realm. We will leave you in our own devices if you submit to us."
"Why would we submit to you?", he said, furious ,"you have no army!". And with that the capped man got back onto his horse and turned around. "Where are you going", asked the same compatriot as before. "Follow me", said the capped man.
They arrived at the end of the fort, making sure none of the locals had followed them. Many of the Khan's settlers were now sitting on the grass and waiting. "Men with horses and weapons, rise up!", said the capped man, shouting as loud as he could. "There is a small colony here who must be taught a lesson." Men reluctantly got up and got onto their horses, pulling out their swords and bows. One of the higher-ups near the capped man began a thunderous chant that the men on the horses echoed back. "For the Khan!", they screamed. The higher-up's horses went back into the gate, and the men followed them back onto the street where the Zaporozians had settled.
"This is our army!", screamed the capped man as he turned the corner. Over two hundred men were lined up behind him, spilling into the street behind, "CHARGE!". The locals were all in the street now, as they had walked out to ask about the ordeal. But now they were running into their doors and houses, screaming and yelling. The community was completely unprepared for the attack, and men on their horses stormed into two-story stone houses looting and raping. The street was a flurry of blood as a small, failed counterattack was attempted by the locals. The capped man's heart was racing- never had he done this! He was an absolute madman! He ordered his men to search all of the houses for the leader of the community, looting until he was found.
After about ten minutes, desperate locals screaming "We surrender!" were dragging the local leader they had seen before out of a doorway. He had tried to hide one of the houses, the damned coward. The capped man rode up to him, got off his horse and walked up to the local leader. "Do you surrender now?!", he yelled at the man, who was dazed after being dragged out of a house and hit with blunt objects along the way. "Y-y-yes!", the local leader said, stuttering in fear. "You are a coward", said the capped man, who solemnly drew his sword and hit it into the man's foot. Blood came spurting out, and pieces of flesh and small bone dangled out. The local leader cried out in pain. It may have seemed to be out of bloodlust, but realistically such an audacious local leader could not have been trusted to not rebel afterwards- thus he needed to be injured at the time, the expedition leader believed. "My brothers and sisters", the Khan shouted at the terrified crowds with a more calm tone ," you have submitted to us. We will leave you alone now, and return some of your valuables. I apologise for any crimes my soldiers may have committed." Women began crying from the stress that had just broken, and children ran back into their houses. This community now knew fear.
The men reached the fort gates cheering and yelled for everyone else to enter. Men searched for their families in the crowd as they all prepared to settle the fort.